Dream Gardens

Alright, mark your calendars. In just a few weeks, on March 2, I will be teaching a class at the Chicago Botanic Garden on the inspired landscapes of Piet (pronounced Pete) Oudolf. If his name hasn't yet popped up on your radar, I hope you'll take a minute to check out some of the photos of his work that I shot at Millenium Park's Lurie Garden in downtown Chicago. One of the things that sets Piet apart from other designers working today is his constant striving for a naturally uncontrived balance of texture + color in the garden. And he does great gardens: they hook into mind-body-soul, fulfilling our human need of beauty, rhythm, and harmony. Sometimes beauty comes in the form of process in a garden: birth-life-death, as plants push up in spring, wave their leaves and blooms in summer, and stand stoic and silent in the winter. In short, he expects the visitors of his designed spaces to have interactive connections to his work, instead of a purely visual one. Piet has a number of really wonderful books, including his newest, a collaboration with Noel Kingsbury. Time for a trip to the library!